Tag Archives: Happiness

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To most of us, the phrase Work that Matters infers job satisfaction. Our intended outcome is a workplace culture characterized by lower stress, lower turnover, and higher productivity – in business, a ‘win-win’ for employees, customers and shareholders. The logic is infallible. So, I ask you, why is there such a gap between the theory and the practice? Why are so many organizations and so many employees struggling to find workplace nirvana?

“Our people are our greatest asset” has been uttered by many CEOs for a long time. However, most of them don’t focus enough on employees’ experience because they are too busy setting their sights and business targets on improving the customers’ experience.

Have you ever felt like a donkey chasing a carrot that is always tantalizingly just beyond reach? Maybe it’s not a carrot you’re chasing, but if you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “I’ll be happy when…” then you’ll understand.

Because of what I do, I read countless articles on the topics of wellbeing, happiness, engagement, and other buzzwords, all of which have exploded in popularity in recent years. Most of these articles are highly repetitive, and I cringe when I see yet another on “The 5 Ways to _______” or another about the “Best Place to Work”. Many of these pieces are missing the point, and fail to actually identify the meaningful aspects of a positive workplace, i.e., people relationships.

With all the research and literature on employee engagement, it’s amazing that so many companies still get it wrong.

Employee engagement can’t be an afterthought anymore. It has clear and measurable impacts on your company’s bottom-line. Companies spend obscene amounts of money trying to measure engagement and “move the needle,” without any real long term results.

That’s simply because they’re doing it wrong.

An extra bonus check or pizza party won’t really make much of a difference if the core issues are never fully addressed. Companies would be wise to focus on these (free) intrinsic motivators.